Bolivian crisis unites South America against US

Despite the lack of in-depth coverage by the international media, the recent political crisis in Bolivia has made two things clear.

For
a start, it seems the government of Evo Morales still has the backing
of the majority of the population and, until now, most of the rank and
file of the armed forces.

Secondly,
the crisis has allowed South American countries to rally behind Morales
through the new Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) in contrast to
the U.S. led Organisation of American States (OAS) - traditionally the
forum to discuss such matters.

Having
won the presidency in 2005 by 54% - the largest electoral victory in
the country's history - Morales' Movement for Socialism (MAS) took
office after a backlash against neoliberal economics and the
mobilisation of Bolivia's indigenous peoples who represent over 60% of
the population.

While
some social movements have been far from happy at the pace of change,
the MAS administration has taken many measures to address poverty.

Renationalising the hydrocarbons sector, the government from 2004-2007 increased its revenue by
$US1.3 billion dollars - approximately 10% of GDP - according to the
Washington based Center for Economic and Policy Research.

In
2007, six new national hospitals were built as MAS - with Venezuelan
funds and through the aid of Cuban doctors and teachers - has been
aiming to establish basic health care and education for Bolivians.

Placing
his administration to a recall referendum last August, Morales
triumphed by 67.4% of the vote making inroads by up to 20% into
opposition territory such as the resource-rich eastern departments of
Beni, Pando and Tarija.

None
of these trends have curtailed the actions of the local opposition and
Washington from destabilising the Morales government.

Soon
after their defeat in the referendum, the opposition, headed by
right-wing separatists and their paramilitary groups in Santa Cruz,
engaged in violent demonstrations and takeovers of government buildings.

Scenes of opposition leaders,
often of European decent, insulting Morales as that "bloody Indian"
trade unionist became all too common as their followers beat up MAS
supporters (including unarmed women) and burnt down government offices.

In El Porvenir, Pando, some 30 peasants were killed while up to as many as 40 persons have disappeared in what one analyst called
the worst massacre "since right-wing President Gonzalo Sánchez de
Lozada presided over the slaughter of more than 70 unarmed protestors in
October 2003."

On
September 11, President Morales expelled U.S. ambassador Philip Goldberg
on the grounds that his constant meetings with the local opposition
were unacceptable. Based on the available evidence, Morales could have
acted against Goldberg much earlier.

In the February issue of the U.S. magazine the Progressive, Benjamin Dangl - an expert on Bolivian politics - wrote:

"Declassified
documents and interviews on the ground in Bolivia prove that the Bush
Administration is using U.S. taxpayers' money to undermine the Morales
government and co-opt the country's dynamic social movements - just as
it has tried to do recently in Venezuela and traditionally throughout
Latin America."

Dangl notes that one declassified
communication, from the U.S. embassy in Bolivia to Washington in July
2002, included the following message:

"A planned USAID
political party reform project aims at implementing an existing
Bolivian law that would... over the long run, help build moderate,
pro-democracy political parties that can serve as a counterweight to the
radical MAS or its successors."

According to the
document, through the Office of Transition Initiatives the U.S. Agency
for International Development has funnelled, "116 grants for
$US4,451,249 to help departmental governments operate more
strategically".

Unlike
the Nixon administration's involvement in the overthrow of the Allende
government in Chile in 1973, Latin American countries this time have not
stood by and let developments unfold.

Proposed
in 2007 by the Venezuelan government, UNASUR aims to be the South
American equivalent of the European Union. Despite Hugo Chávez's less
than diplomatic expulsion of the U.S. ambassador in his own country in
support of La Paz, almost every government in the region chose to meet
under UNASUR while practically ignoring the OAS.

This was UNASUR's first meeting to resolve a regional crisis and Washington was not invited.

While
the Bush administration was quick to put Bolivia and Venezuela on its
list of countries who are failing to meet their responsibilities in
fighting narcotics, and surely the Morales government will face further
turmoil, for now, it looks like Chávez and his regional allies have
scored another goal against the United States.